In Which a Nearly Silent Century Passes

Starting out on the Cedar River Trail, less than half a mile from the Cedar Valley Nature Trail which we will ride almost 50 miles north--deer! I did not expect my sister to say, "hey, I know that buck," but she did and does. This is not far from her house, which abuts the woods at Prairie Woods Retreat, and one of these guys hangs out in her yard sometimes. Clearly he was here with a friend to wish her a fine ride.

Nearly silent, only because I thought that I had apparently failed to record my music cover song of the ride—which I think was my best work of the week, a remake of “Ticket to Ride” with the lyrics “Fat Tire to Ride.”

It was as brilliant as all my music videos this week have been, but sadly, at first it seemed to be unavailable. My camera was acting a little funky—later on, some of the images recorded as a blank white screen, and I assumed the shutter problems the camera was having caused the video failure.

Happily, or sadly if you have any musical taste at all, the simple answer is often the most correct. In fact, I had accidentally deleted my video file, I had not failed to record it. So, biker blog bad music cover fans from fake RAGBRAI 2020—fear not. Your tune of not awesome, found in the computer trash, will be coming up.

Thursday, day 5 of not RAGBRAI, was, again, a glorious Iowa summer day. My sister and I planned to ride north—and the question in our minds, given the length of the trail north, was whether we would go for a century.

Nice blue sky. Warm, but not hot day, very pleasant morning--these images are early in the ride north. Above, paved trail (in area where music video was shot). Below, north of Center Point, where pavement ends.

The trail to Waterloo from Cedar Rapids has been detoured for years because of a falling bridge in La Porte City, but reports online said a new bridge had been built. And if we were riding to inspect that bridge, we would be well over 2/3 of the way north on this 52-mile trail anyway.

RAGBRAI has an optional loop one day, the Karras Loop that is named after John Karras who is one of two founders of the ride. That loop means one day’s ride can total, if a rider chooses to ride it, more than 100 miles. We weren’t doing a Karras Loop, since we were just going to ride north and then head back on the same trail, so we thought of this ride as our Karras Line. (And my sister posted a remake of a song from a Chorus Line on Facebook, so at least some music got recorded today).

The real RAGBRAI has recently added an optional gravel loop, too. Since this trail includes significant gravel, this was the all-loops day of not-RAGBRAI.

The morning was gorgeous. I decided to stick with plan A and rode the road bike. We made good time, but a few miles after we hit the unpaved trail north of Center Point, I started to feel a bit wonky—nauseous and dizzy. We stopped; I drank some water. My sister suggested eating a snack, and I wolfed down a fat peanut butter sandwich I had planned as an afternoon snack. We were only 25 or so miles into the ride, and I doubted, for the first time, that it would be a century day.

We began again. My sister was letting me take the lead because I’m the slower biker, and I deliberately slowed down a bit more. We had been making pretty good time, especially on the unpaved trail, but parts of it are treacherous—there are rutted places of dried mud, sandy soft spots, sticks on the trail and holes.

I had skidded a bit, especially in the “fast” first 3 miles or so of unpaved trail (the 14 miles between Hiawatha and Center Point are paved, it’s north of Center Point where the trail is gravel, limestone and dirt).

Anyway, the easier pace seemed to do the trick. Although the day warmed up a lot, and we had some long stretches between bathroom breaks (Brandon! Big fry pan, so what? Open a darn bathroom), it was a nice day all day long.

We had, a couple of years ago, ridden this trail to Evansdale, a Waterloo suburb. There is a section of the trail that my sister calls “the Mosquito Coast.” It’s a pretty and shady stretch, with the Cedar River off to your left (if you are riding north) and woody hillside, sometimes with rocky short bluffs, off to the right. Given it’s shady and damp topography, if you know Iowa in summer, you know the reason for the name. We both sprayed Bug Soother on for this part of the ride. Interestingly, we were both a bit surprised by the location of the coast, because in our mental maps, it was between La Porte City and Evansdale, when in fact, it was south of both La Porte City and a bridge over the Cedar River.

The error in coast location was not the first time our mental maps proved defective. The approximate mid-point of this trail north is Brandon, and my sister had assumed it was at mile 26. It wasn’t, it was just a bit north of that. “They’ve moved Brandon,” she said. The robot overlords running the matrix were having some fun with us on this ride!

We had been seeking a cornfield, which would have really recreated the RAGBRAI ride experience, but never found a likely one on the long ride between Center Point and La Porte City, both places where there was indoor plumbing.

Anyway, we made it to LPC, after our unexpected ride through the coast and also the woods where trees battled (recent storms left a storm of sticks on a section of the trail.

And there was a snake. My sister had told her spouse a fairy tale: that she was taking a snake on the ride to release, to ease her spouse’s mind. Her wife fears snakes, apparently, and had seen one in the yard, so my sister made a show of saying she had caught and loaded the snake for release.

Well, surprise, Paulette! I hope this image, shot during our sojourn north through the Mosquito Coast, does not give you the heebie jeebies. Clearly, Cate must have taken the snake for trail release:

Mosquito Coast, CVNT. A snake on the trail. I maintain it was released by my sister.

At La Porte City, we discovered:

La Porte City, trail "closed." But why?

The new bridge has indeed done. But the trail is marked as being closed at the new bridge.

I don’t know why. The trail and bridge looked fine. We were debating what to do, when two riders we don’t know approached the barrier from the south, skirted it on the grass, and continued on to the new bridge. We did not hear any splash, and after a few minutes the strangers did not return.

Hmm. What if we rode on the grass ourselves to flank the barrier? What if we crossed the new bridge? What if the barrier on the north end maybe presented a bit more of a challenge to my sister’s trike due to the narrowness of the gap, but was still a barrier that could be avoided?

What if?

I cannot say what happened next. I don’t want to admit any crimes on this public blog. Be that as it may, a few minutes later we were north of the new bridge, continuing our ride north.

It was getting to be 11 a.m. and we were thinking about lunch. Last time we rode to Evansdale, finding a restaurant there proved challenging. We reached the depot at Gilbertville, the last town before Evansdale.

I was wondering if that was enough—I had reached 50 miles. The goal today was 100, and if I simply turned around and rode back to the inexplicably named City of Five Seasons (Cedar Rapids, home of city mottos that perplex rather than promote), I would achieve triple digits.

And two riders approached from the north. Where you from, the strangers (my sister and I were the strangers) inquired. They were from Cedar Falls, part of the Waterloo-Cedar Falls sister cities.

Well, locals, what’s a great place to eat around these parts? “Why, there is a place called the Rocket, in downtown La Porte City. They have great pie.”

Pie—on faux RAGBRAI, we liked the sound of that word. And the idea of a local café.

So we turned around in Gilbertville and started our sojourn south. The route from the trail to downtown La Porte City was a bit odd (LPC, with the bridge repaired you may have more trail traffic—you might want to think of marking a route to downtown to promote biker-related tourism dollars staying in your town). And it turned out the main street was being dug up and replaced.

Road construction—it’s had a big impact on my bike rides this summer.

Anyway, we found the place after some experimental exploring of an unknown town. The menu was rather limited, but it didn’t matter because the food was grand. We both had specialty burgers. Mine had hash browns, an over-easy egg and cheese on a hamburger—I thought of it as Iowa’s answer to how burgers are served in Paraguay. Whatever else you can say about Paraguay, just in case you wonder, it’s a good country to get a hamburger in.

I had coleslaw as a side, and it was good. I don’t recall what my sister’s burger was named or had, but she liked it and had it with potato salad, which she said was nice. For afters, she ordered break pudding and I had strawberry pie. We each had the first bite of each other’s, and both were quite tasty.

If you’re from Cedar Rapids and adventurous enough to bike this far north, check out the Rocket in downtown La Porte City. It offers great bike chow.

La Porte City--we lock bikes to tree and walk through construction zone for lunch at cafe called "Rocket."

My lunch. It was very, very good.

Strawberry pie, my choice for after-meal treat.

My sister's bread pudding. And she said the stale bread might be doughnuts--the family that runs this cafe has a doughnut shop in Waterloo and a bakery with this cafe in La Porte City.

The ride south. What can I say about it? The day was turning warm and we were hot and tired, but doing well. We repeated the scenery in reverse, and the robot gods made no changes to the matrix.

Although I did turn on my lights for safety, technically we finished the ride while the sun was still shining. It reached just over 101 miles. Day 5 of fake RAGBRAI was the longest ride of the week, but still quite nice!

On the ride south, crossing Cedar River south of La Porte City.

View of the Cedar River. Second time on fake RAGBRAI we crossed this river, did it both north and south of Cedar Rapids. River runs through Cedar Rapids.

A short rest on the ride south, north of Brandon. Old grain facility looks like an old castle.

A bit farther along. Not quite to Brandon yet. The trail is an old rail line, and there are a few artifacts of time gone by--another closed grain elevator. And my sister on her Cat Trike.

And when I got home, I saw this while putting away my bike:

Monarch caterpillar on milkweed I planted in my front garden.

I planted the milkweed just so that this could happen—which is an odd thing, milkweed is the one flower gardeners in Iowa plant in hopes that caterpillars will show up to nibble away the leaves.

Summer in Iowa—it can be glorious! It can also be insufferably hot and humid, and after Thursday, the week made that unfortunate turn. I’ll post soon about the final rides in fake RAGBRAI.

And now. Time for a song? I guess you have no choice except not hitting play:

And, to further cleanse your ears, one of my favorite covers of a different Beatles tune:

Happy riding!

In Which Hawks Cheer Me On to 45 Miles

Hawks on power poles on 74th Street NE.

Actually, my sister posted on Facebook that Map My Ride measured our ride today at 44.94 miles, but I guess it’s OK for me to just claim the other 0.06 miles, don’t you think?

It was a nice day for a RAGBRAI prep ride. It was a bit after 10 a.m. and rather cool when I started my ride to my sister’s nearby house. Along the way, I heard a familiar-sounding screaming cry—the kind that has become common this summer at Mount Mercy University where a family of hawks is being raised from a nest on the Warde Hall cupola.

And there, on top of a power pole on 74th Street, sat two large birds. I don’t know why they were calling. Are these adults hollering to a youngster I didn’t see? Are these juveniles complaining that mom and dad are just too slow with dead things? Or are these simply territorial birds concerned about a big, wheeled mammal suddenly encroaching on their private dinosaur land?

Whatever, it felt good to hear the hawks yell—it seemed like a good omen for the day’s ride, for no particular reason. I met my sister, and then we headed back to my neighborhood to do the Brentwood Drive hill climb. Then we headed south to Mount Mercy University, were we added more hill practice by scaling The Hill.

Afterwards, of course, we posed for a victory ussie with Mother Catherine.

My sister, Mother Catherine and I after my sister and I completed the MMU tour de hill-climbing the hill four times.

By the time we were done at MMU, I wasn’t feeling so cool anymore. The day never really got hot—nor even warm, by Iowa summer standards—but plenty of sunshine and a light breeze and vigorous biking made me warm.

It was then on to the Cedar River trail, heading south to Czech Village. Our plan was lunch at the Flying Weenie. We weren’t 100 percent sure where it was in relationship to Czech Village, but luckily guessed “west,” which proved to be the right direction (both in the sense of the bearing we turned and fitness of the outcome of the presumption).

I had a Chicago dog with fries, and some baked beans. My sister had a burger and fries. The Flying Weenie is an awesome place to stop for a biking lunch, by the way. And the fries are the finest in Cedar Rapids.

This--a dog, fries and baked beans. My lunch at the Flying Weenie.

After the excellent lunch, we rode to the trail’s end in Ely, where we paused and ate snacks we had packed and also thought positive thoughts about the city leaders of Ely for the fine new restrooms they constructed at the end of the Hoover Trail.

And then we biked back again. Along the way, my sister informed me that if I wanted to climb Cottage Grove hill, I was on my own. I said “no,” that I had enough hill practice for today—and between twice climbing the Brentwood hill and four times climbing the MMU hill, we rode up six substantial hills, which I think is decent.

Tomorrow, more of our RAGBRAI crew will gather for yet another practice ride. I’m hoping to break 60 miles at least one day this week (don’t freak out, daughters, I don’t mean on tomorrow’s ride) and may be able to track the miles soon, since my wife bought a computer for Argent today.

My sister raised an interesting question today: “Are you going to try to ride the Karras Loop?”

Hmmmmm.

Finally, just for you biker-flower fans—a bit of what was blooming this afternoon after I got home:

New Hollyhock, rear garden. I used to have black ones. Now, a white one.

Coneflowers are just getting started.

Native lily at it's peak.

You can see yellow lily in background, which has been in bloom for a week or so. This pretty darker one by the mailbox just bloomed today.

In Which CR Joe Is Starting To Reconsider RAGBRAI …

Pavel Novak took this photo of Mount Everest, which I downloaded from Wikicommons. Is the Karras loop my Mt. Everest? Is this the year?

RAGBRAI 2012 was tough. Very tough.

Hundred-degree afternoons. Headwinds. Unrelenting sun in the drought-stricken desert of western Iowa. An ill-timed thunderstorm in Marshalltown that robbed me of sleep when I was already worn out.

But then, it changed. The final days were spent in company—first, I saw some MMU friends on the pleasant day I rode into CR. It was only 95 that day and the wind was not our enemy. A ride of more than 80 miles in 95 degree heat with side winds doesn’t sound like fun until you realize how vastly more pleasant it is than a ride of 60 miles facing a stiff headwind in 105 degree heat.

And company always helps.

That night, and the next, I slept in my own bed, and the next two days, I rode with two siblings and a brother-in-law.

I wrote yesterday that I was in Des Moines, attending the Iowa College Media Association Convention. That night, I sent my sister and her husband a Facebook message that I was in town, and they quickly made plans for a noon trip so that they could just say hello for 10 minutes in a hotel lobby.

Ah. Shucks. It was sure nice to see them. And they are starting to think—you know, Des Moines is on the RAGBRAI route this year, so one day mid-week would be in a “house,”—maybe this whole-week bike ride thing is not so cray cray. . .

And if they do it, and if my other biking sister does it, well. Hmm. Food for thought.

I had planned to do only a few days of RAGBRAI this year for three reasons: 1) Last year, 2) A trip to Paraguay will cut some of my training time and 3) I wanted to walk the Bix this year with my wife.

The wife, however, seems to be encouraging the bike ride. I don’t think she minds the week alone, and we can go for walks at any time. And, while we can’t predict what the weather will do—who knows, it could be another hot, dry summer—the RAGBRAI route is much easier this year. Plus, it goes through Des Moines and Fairfield, two towns I have connections to.

Today, at the ICMA convention, I listened to a very uplifting speech by Charlie Wittmack, a Des Moines attorney who completed the “world triathlon,” swimming the Thames and the English Channel, riding a bike thousands of miles across Europe and Asia to reach Nepal, and then scaling Mount Everest.

After describing the ordeal of riding across deserts and mountains, Wittmack said, “all I had left to do was to climb Mount Everest.”

Yikes. And I balk at a bike ride I’ve already done twice?

The story was both inspiring—and oddly familiar. I remember someone chatting about this guy before. Who do I know who is also a lawyer in Des Moines? Oh, that would be my sister. She also bikes and so does her husband—who, I think, was the one who raised the topic of Wittmack one summer weekend when Brigid and Eldon and Cate and I did the Raccoon River Ride.

At ICMA, Wittmack talked about the importance of doing something just a bit more than you thought you could. Me, I hate to stand on a chair, and I guarantee I’ll never climb Everest. It’s there and it can stay there. But a third RAGBRAI? Maybe even the 100-mile loop?

Hmmmmmmm…..